| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Odyssey by Homer: must have been a very small one indeed if its 'cable' could be
used to tie tightly round a woman's neck, and still more round a
dozen of them 'in a row,' besides being strong enough to hold
them and pull them all up.
"A dozen average women would need the weight and strength of
more than a dozen strong heavy men even over the best pulley
hung to the roof over them; and the idea of pulling them up by a
rope hung anyhow round a pillar [Greek] is absurdly impossible;
and how a dozen of them could be hung dangling round one post is
a problem which a senior wrangler would be puzzled to answer...
She had better have let Telemachus use his sword as he had
The Odyssey |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Myths and Myth-Makers by John Fiske: they got to the end of the world,--the jumping-off
place,--when they both jumped into the sky. There the Moon
still chases his sister, the Sun; and every now and then he
turns his sooty cheek toward the earth, when he becomes so
dark that you cannot see him.[139]
[139] Tylor, Early History of Mankind, p. 327.
Another story, which I cite from Mr. Tylor, shows that Malays,
as well as Indo-Europeans, have conceived of the clouds as
swan-maidens. In the island of Celebes it is said that "seven
heavenly nymphs came down from the sky to bathe, and they were
seen by Kasimbaha, who thought first that they were white
Myths and Myth-Makers |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Unconscious Comedians by Honore de Balzac: see what came of it; an emperor! the elder branch! the younger branch!
The Montagnards didn't lop the social tree enough."
"Ah ca! you, who will be, they tell me, consul, or something of that
kind, tribune perhaps, be good enough to remember," said Bixiou, "that
I have asked your protection for the last dozen years."
"No harm shall happen to you; we shall need wags, and you can take the
place of Barere," replied the corn-doctor.
"And I?" said Leon.
"Ah, you! you are my client, and that will save you; for genius is an
odious privilege, to which too much is accorded in France; we shall be
forced to annihilate some of our greatest men in order to teach others
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The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from Roads of Destiny by O. Henry: steamboat /River Belle/ gingerly approached the long unused landing at
Charleroi. The bridge was lowered, and a swarm of the plantation hands
streamed along the rotting pier, bearing ashore a strange assortment
of freight. Great shapeless bundles and bales and packets swathed in
cloth and bound with ropes; tubs and urns of palms, evergreens, and
tropical flowers; tables, mirrors, chairs, couches, carpets, and
pictures--all carefully bound and padded against the dangers of
transit.
Grandemont was among them, the busiest there. To the safe conveyance
of certain large hampers eloquent with printed cautions to delicate
handling he gave his superintendence, for they contained the fragile
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